Champions of Product Management Working the network | Working the network |
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There are lots of concrete benefits people gain from networking with their peers and professional counterparts – finding customers, job leads, partners, financing, and career advice, just for starters. But, according to serial entrepreneur and veteran networker Rod Stoll, the most significant benefits are often qualitative. Until the unthinkable happened in 1993, when the chemicals company he worked for and partially owned unexpectedly eliminated his job, Rod Stoll saw his career following the straight and narrow path of a classic corporate executive. “I was extremely typical of the professional at that time. I kept a very close circle, focusing in on my work, and I wasn’t at all fluid in getting outside my office or my industry set,” Stoll recalled. Of course he wasn’t alone; that was just the way things were. “Even today, there are many professionals who only focus on the work on their desk and stay within a very tight circle,” he said. Not only had Stoll seen no apparent need to extend beyond that circle before the ax fell, there were actually good reasons to avoid doing so: it takes time away from work and family, it requires a significant amount of effort, it costs money, and besides, it can be both awkward and uncomfortable to leave your peers and familiar surroundings simply to expand your circle of acquaintances. After all, who needs it? As it turns out, just about everyone. Practice, practice, practice Although meeting one’s counterparts has been a pillar of professional life for decades, ‘networking’ – the active verb form of the noun ‘network’ – didn’t enter America’s popular vocabulary until 15 or 20 years ago. That verbal transition signaled a qualitative difference in the way people were starting to think about connecting with one another. It also carried a heightened set of expectations about the practical and strategic aspects of networking effectively. And it came at a time when the long-term patterns of employment, which had become familiar at every level of America’s workforce, were finally breaking down. “Back in 1993, on a scale of 1 to 10, I’d say I was a 2,” Stoll said, reflecting on his tactical skill and comfort level in reaching out to strangers. “Now, I’m probably an 8 or a 9. I’m very at ease in large groups or small groups. I don’t mind at all walking up to someone who’s standing in the corner and introducing myself.” He’s even crafted a few lines that he uses to approach strangers at professional events and engage them in conversation. His favorite: ‘what brings you here?’ Today – several senior management posts and countless consulting projects after his original job ended – Stoll has become a committed networker, attending two or three evening events a week in addition to several early-morning programs a month and a handful of lunchtime group meetings as well. But while his priority remains connecting with his corporate peers, Stoll’s view of the networking process itself has evolved over time. Softer focus When he began his networking journey after the 1993 layoff, Stoll knew what he had to do. “I was focused on targeting what I wanted to do in my next job,” he said, ticking off his ideal employer’s industry, size, and career specifications. “That was my mission, and I used networking as one of the tactics to extend my market exposure. My plan was almost like drawing a circle with the target in the center. That target represents the people and organizations that are in your sweet spot – organizations where your peers would go.” But once his plan to market himself got underway, things started to change. “Once I got involved in networking, I realized that it really is a life skill – it’s a universal application. And that’s true whether you’re a teacher or an attorney or a product manager. I only wish I would have realized this when I was 20 instead of 40,” he said. “I came to see networking as a continuous process of developing relationships for professional and personal enrichment,” he reflected. “The operative words are ‘continuous developing relationships,’ and the endgame, in the broad sense, is for professional development and personal enrichment.” So what’s the take-home benefit? “There are a number of tactical benefits and outcomes of networking besides just job seeking,” he noted. “In terms of getting industry information or developing clients, or helping to raise money. Venture capitalists and angels tend to be a little more open to a business plan or to someone pitching an idea if they get a referral from a party they know.” “But frankly, I don’t look for a payoff,” Stoll said. “That’s the personal enrichment part. I like helping people. I like meeting people. I like connecting with people. I like referring people to other people. That’s the qualitative payoff. Quantitatively I could say that my network is working because instead of my knowing a lot of people, a lot of people know me. So when people I don’t know connect with me because they were referred to me by someone else, I know my network is working.” A New York Minute In Pittsburgh, where Stoll – a native of Montana with career stops in Wisconsin and Kentucky has lived since 1988 – there are plenty of venues for face-to-face networking as well as endless opportunities for one-on-one follow-ups. For him they include, in addition to the Pittsburgh Product Strategy Network: the The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE), the Pittsburgh Technology Council, the Financial Executives Institute, the MIT Forum, and several others. “If you look at who is the audience for those organizations, they tend to be individuals who are in my sweet spot,” he said. “And they may be helpful in expanding your market exposure in that sweet spot.” At the same time, there are subtle but potentially important differences in the networking cultures of different regions, according to Stoll. “Pittsburgh is a small town. There tend to be groups of people that are tight and who know one another. One of the big differences I see between Silicon Valley and Pittsburgh is that they’ve got a culture out there where professionals tend to be relaxed and comfortable in talking with someone they’ve never met before, offering them advice or direction. It’s a mentality that I think is key to being a good networker: it’s that they listen well and their first reaction is ‘how can I help this person?’ as opposed to ‘what can I get from this person?’ That’s one of the characteristics of a good networker – that they’re a net giver.” It’s different in New York, though. “New York networking is very rough and tumble. There’s a fluid, fast, hard-driving professional community in New York City. The people I’ve met there tend to know a lot of people, but they don’t know them very well. In networking there, size matters – the size of your contact list. It’s not the quality but the quantity. So they would be happy to refer you to the mayor, but they don’t really know him well enough so that their referral would be a door-opener.” This article is the first in a series on "Working the Network," offering tips on how to benefit from networking opportunities and to see how Rod Stoll himself makes use of professional networks. Working the network series
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Getting the most from networking sometimes means giving the most
